A tuning device for music instrument (hereafter “music tuner”) is widely used to measure and adjust the pitch of a sound of a music instrument. Basically, a music tuner measures a frequency of a musical sound to allow the user to adjust the sound to a predetermined frequency.
There are primarily two kinds of music tuners widely available in the market in terms of the type of music sound sensing device. One type of the music tuner has a non-contact sensing device, such as a microphone for picking-up the musical sound in a non-contact manner. Another type of music tuner has a contact sensing device such as a piezoelectric device for picking-up the musical sound by physically contacting with the music instrument. As is well known in the art, the piezoelectric device generates an electric signal (voltage) in response to a mechanical stress (vibration) received from the music instrument.
Ordinarily, the music tuner with a non-contact sensing device (hereafter also referred to as “microphone”) is not physically attached to a music instrument. The microphone picks the sound coming from the instrument through the air so that the music tuner can determine the pitch of the sound. The music tuner with a contact sensing device (hereafter also referred to as “piezo device”) is physically attached to a music instrument. The piezo device picks the vibration of the music instrument and converts the vibration to a voltage to determine the pitch of the instrument.
Each type of the music tuner having either a microphone or a piezo device has both advantages and disadvantages. In the music tuner using a piezo device, the user can use the music tuner in a relatively noisy environment. For example, when the user is tuning the instrument in an ensemble, several other players are normally present and playing their music instruments. The sounds from other instruments can diminish the accuracy of the music tuner utilizing a microphone because the microphone of the turner can pick the ambient sounds as well. Such a problem will not occur if the music tuner employs a piezo device.
In the music tuner using a microphone, the user need not directly attach the music tuner to the music instrument. Depending on a type of musical instrument, attaching the music tuner so that a sensing device can detect the sound of the instrument may be difficult or impractical. The user may want to leave the music tuner on a music stand so that she can check the pitch any time. In some cases, the user just prefers to use the microphone because ambient sound is negligible or attaching the music tuner to the music instrument is cumbersome. Moreover, in a conventional music tuner using a piezo device, it may become difficult to read the display of the music tuner when it is attached to a specific location of the music instrument. In some cases, the user is forced to see the display from the opposite direction such that the display is upside-down as viewed from the user.
Accordingly, there is a need of a new music tuner that is able to take advantages of both types of the music tuner, one having a microphone and the other having a piezo device, and is integrated in a user-friendly manner into a single tuner so that the user can enjoy the benefit of both types of music tuners.